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HOME AND FLOWEES 



eggs, etc. Not only does it save lard, but it 

 improves the flavor of such articles of food 

 when they are fried in it. The grease from 

 fried ham should be saved for greasing the tin 

 for baked eggs, and little bits of it placed on 

 top of the eggs instead of butter. It gives the 

 eggs a salty ham flavor, and prevents the 'fiat' 

 taste all too frequent in a dish of baked eggs. 

 Fat from corned-beef clarified as above is excel- 

 lent for shortening and frying purj)oses. Do not 

 use fat from boiled meat without clarifying, as 

 it is too strong for most purposes." — Mary 

 Taylor Soss. 



•'Women who are troubled vrith having gloves 

 split in the middle of the opening just as they 

 are drawn up over the fleshy part of the thumb 

 should moisten a small piece of court-plaster 

 and apply it just inside the glove underneath 

 the spot apt to prove vreak This will save the 

 glove at this point. Have your gloves fitted 

 at the store for the first time, since this first 

 donning of the glove should be done just right. 

 If you indulge in a pair of bargain gloves, get 

 some friend or relative to put them on you the 

 first time. Failing this, remove your rings, 

 powder your' hand_, and draw on the fingers, 

 keeping every seam perfectly straight. Then 

 draw the glove over the hand and button the 

 second button first, then the lest.'^— Mary Tay- 

 lor Boss. 



Sees Only a Hafd Struggle 



"When I first read 'The Country Woman and 

 the Life Beautiful,' if I could have found time 

 to write I would have told you as emphatically 

 as 1 could that, before many of the American 

 farmers and their families could do anything 

 toward living more beautiful lives, they must 

 first be a little bit sure of the bare necessities. 



"Back of our house is a high, steep hill. All 

 over it are lovely little feres and wildlings, 

 and, in the spring, wild flowers. Bur the soil 

 is light, and at every step it gives, so anyone 

 going up must climb quickly, and cannot often 

 get footing enough to look at the beauties on 

 either side or scarcely in their path, and then 

 one gets so tired. We farmers are climbing just 

 such a hill. In a former article you speak of 

 the haste, but say we will slacken. Can we un- 

 der the present system? It seems to me we can 

 see the flowers just in our path if we thought 

 to look for them, but if we pause one instant 

 to look to either side our footing gives way, and 

 we slip and slide and roll down, and are too 

 bruised and discouraged to try again, and a 

 good many slip without looking for flowers. 

 Have you any idea how many people have to 

 give up their farms every year after a desperate 

 struggle to keep them? 



"Maybe you are right, and we can learn to 

 appreciate the flowers in our path, and then 

 build our ruad— socialism— after which we can 

 look around without feeling the ground give 

 Avay beneath us. My husband climbs from 4:'30 

 or 5 in the morning until dark, and mostly 

 seven days a vreek. He begins to read when he 

 goes to bed, but is asleep in a few moments. 

 Sometimes we visit, while I turn the grindstone 

 or some equally light piece of work. But if my 

 'Josiah Allen' were open to conviction, and 

 I capable of assuming the great responsibility 

 you have placed on us, I am not sure but there 

 might be something lacking even then. 



"The ideas' which Home axd Flowers is so 

 ably advancing are not altogether new to me. 

 I had thought about it before I read your 

 article, and if I have a thought worthy of a 

 place in it, it is this: That to lead better lives 

 we must grow, not simply change our ideas, 

 and so our work is with our children. Our 

 fathers and husbands are pretty well matured 

 before we know them as such, and from both 

 observation and experience I say we had better 

 make the best of them as they are, and try and 

 improve ourselves that we may help our chil- 

 dren. It has taken several generations to make 

 the typical American, and it will take some 

 time to bring out the finer qualities that have 

 been lost." 



Managing the Boys 



"I would like to tell you how we manage 

 our boys. Instead of scolding and punishing 

 so much we give tickets— little, square pieces of 

 pasteboard Avith 'good' and 'bad' written on 

 them. Then each day we give a ticket, good or 

 bad, as they deserve. If they have been real 

 naughty, we give a double bad one, as we call 

 it, or if extra good a double good one. Twenty- 

 five is the limit. If the bad exceeds the good we 

 have to punish them, but if good we give a 

 premium. The being good includes picking up 

 after themselves, hanging up hats and coats, 

 airing beds when they get up in the mcrmng, 

 taking otf boots at the door in muddy weather, 

 as well as good behavior and correct language. 

 It takes but little tim_e to deal out the tickets, 

 and avoids a great deal of scolding and friction. 

 We think boys should be taught how to do 

 things inside as well as outside, and so save the 

 mother a great many steps and a deal cf labor 

 in time, as well as making them more manly.'' 



A Teacher on the Work of a Busy Woman 



"She is a very remarkable woman. She does 

 all her own Avork — including washing and iron- 

 ing, scrubbing and cleaning. She has to Avalk 

 down a hill and carry up from a spring all the 

 drinking and cooking water— and she <rets it 



